


What Mako Remembers

by Sedaris



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: 3rd person pov, M/M, Mako's POV, Pre-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 02:29:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1493347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sedaris/pseuds/Sedaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mako was growing up in the Shatterdome, Marshal Pentecost wasn't the only adopted family she gained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Mako Remembers

She's known them since she was a little kid, since the Marshal first brought her to live with him in the Alaskan Shatterdome. Back then, the kaiju situation was pressing, obviously, but not yet so pressing that they couldn't play with her on a semi-regular basis. Newt had a pretty stellar collection of magical girl cartoons, and he'd once spent hours carefully considering every DVD — which ones were the most fun, which ones would be the most empowering, which ones would most likely help her develop a positive self-image — before plunking her down on the couch, ruffling her hair as they watched colorful women defeat non-threatening bad guys. She called him her Oji, and he showed her his top secret stash of discount post-Halloween candy.

Hermann, on the other hand, preferred to walk a more traditional route. On nights when she snuck down to the lab, unable to sleep because of nightmares about Onibaba, he pulled out his humongous anthology of German fairytales, stroking her hair as he read aloud, her sleepy head resting in his lap. On one such occasion, through bleary, half-closed eyes, she could see Newt peering around the corner, staring at them, hand pressed delicately against the doorframe. It would be many years before she would identify the expression she saw on his blurred face.

She remembers asking the Marshal why the pair fought so much. He sat her on his knee and sighed, the beginnings of premature stress wrinkles already ghosting the corners of his eyes. For several minutes he was silent, searching for words. In a quiet tone, he told her that sometimes, it could be easier for a person to pretend like they felt one thing when they really feel something else, because sometimes the way that somebody really feels is inconvenient or scary. Sometimes, he said, a person can have feelings that they think they shouldn't have, and it makes them very sad and frustrated, so they try to get rid of those feelings by being hurtful. She said that she didn't understand, and the Marshal smiled bittersweetly, saying that he knew she didn't, though he believed that someday she would. He then told her that Newt and Hermann were her friends, and that if she said anything to them about what he had told her, it wouldn't make them feel very nice. "We don't make our friends upset just so that we can be nosy", he said. That, at least, she understood. 

She remembers the day that Newt showed her what would happen if you mixed baking soda and vinegar. She remembers thinking that it was both funny and astounding that despite having degrees in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry, he had not accurately gauged how big of a mess it would actually make.  

She remembers the day that she tearfully confessed to Hermann that she had broken the gear on her bicycle and was afraid to tell the Marshal, because she'd been attempting dangerous tricks after having been expressly told not to. She remembers how she woke up the next morning to find that the gear was as good as new, and how the next time she saw Hermann, he winked at her conspiratorially.  

She remembers the day that Newt knelt beside her and whispered, "When Hermann comes in here, call him 'Onkel'." She nodded, and when Hermann entered the lab, she bowed, exclaiming, "Good afternoon, Onkel!"  He had stared at her for a few seconds before scooping her up in a hug, even giving her a little twirl. She shrieked in delight — he'd never, ever showed this much affection before. She remembers Newt's hanging jaw, and the way that Hermann had to lean extra hard on his cane and take a lot of sitting breaks for the rest of the day. She remembers that he did not once complain.  

She remembers being a little older, asking Newt for advice about boys. He was both excited and flustered by her inquiry, stating that of course he'd help her, but why had she asked him? "Because, Oji", she told him, "you are my oldest friend. I trust you completely, as you have never let me down before. Now please tell me, did you ever think that your boyfriends were terribly confusing?" 

This was the first time she had ever given any indication that she had an inkling of his preferences, and the heavy weight of the event hung silently between them momentarily. Finally, Newt dramatically rolled his eyes, groaning, "You have no idea, Mako. Kid, lemme tell you, there was this one guy in college..." 

She remembers the day she broke a simulation record at the Academy. After a day of back-pats and congratulations, she'd returned to her room to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers, tied up with a deep blue ribbon. The small card read, "You will be the finest pilot in the whole world — _Onkel._ " She kept them until every petal fell off. After that, the blue ribbon found a permanent spot in her drawer.  

Most recently, Mako remembers saving the world with her co-pilot, her father, her friends, and her uncles. She remembers the relief, the joy, the grief, the unfamiliar beauty of hope. She remembers seeing her Oji and her Onkel side-by-side in the sea of wonderfully alive human beings, staring at the stopped clock, holding hands. Maybe now, she thought, the way they felt didn't have to be a sad or frustrating or inconvenient thing. She wouldn't pry — after all, she'd never risk making her friends uncomfortable just to be nosy — but she hoped they'd choose share their news with her on their own. She had a feeling that they would.

**Author's Note:**

> Oji = "uncle" in Japanese 
> 
> Onkel = "uncle" in German
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
